Improvement in metallic fasteners for envelopes



B. F. STEPHENS.

METALLIC FASTENERS FOR ENVELOPES.

Patented March 21,1876.

(y m/ml? 073m J J n N.FETERS. PHOTO UTHDGHAPNER. wAsmm-au, a c

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

BENJAMIN F. STEPHENS, OF BROOKLYN, NEW YORK.

IMPROVEMENT IN METALLIC FASTENERS FOR ENVELOPES.-

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 175,191, dated March 21, 1876; application filed May 27, 1875.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, BENJAMIN F. STE- PHENs, of Brooklyn, in the county of Kings and State of New York, have invented an Improvement in Metallic Fastenings for Envelopes, &c., of which the following is a spec ilication Metallic eyelets have been used for fastening envelopes, papers, 850., and in some cases these have been made closed at the end so.

ing mutilated or showing that it had been opened.

My invention is made for the purpose of preventing this being done without detection, for which purpose I employ a combined eyelet and metal seal that cannot be replaced by any person that has not the' metallic seal. Thus the metallic fastening is as great a protection as a sealing-wax seal, because that can be opened by heat but cannot be replaced without the actual seal; so in my improvement, the metal seal cannot be replaced after the envelope has been opened by cutting oft the seal, except by a person possessed of the genuine metal seal. 'Thus the security is greatly increased.

I make use of a metallic eyelet, a, preferably made with a broad flat flange, 2, so as not to cut or injure the paper, and this is put through the thicknesses of paper forming the back and flap of the envelope, either by punching the hole previously or by pressing the pa per upon the cylindrical portion of the eyelet, so that it cuts its own hole.

The metallic seal b for the end of the eyelet is made with a raised and returned edge, 3, so that said edge is sectionally a bead of nearly three-quarters of a circle; hence the middle portion of the seal is below the rim and adapted to receive any initials, monogram, numbers, or other marks usual in seals, and when the seal is placedupon the end of the eyelet and struck by a hammer, or pressed down upon such eyelet, the end thereof is spread, and clinches within the bead around the seal, so that the parts cannot separate, and the envelope is firmly sealed, and the central portion being lower than the rim upon which the pressure is applied, said pressure does not injure or obliterate the seal itself, but leaves that uninjured.

This fastening may be used to secure legal and other papers together, or for similar objects.

Figure 1 of the drawings shows the parts of the fastening, separately and in section. Fig. 2 shows them after flattening; and Fig. 3 shows an envelope with such fastenings applied thereto.

I claim as my invention- The metallic seal b, with the raised and returned edge 3, in combination with the metallic eyelet a, having a broad flange, 2, as and for the purposes set forth.

Signed by me this 24th day of -May, A. D.

BENJ. F. STEPHENS. Witnesses:

GEO. T. PINCKNEY, CHAS. H. SMITH. 

